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Yasser Talal Al Zahrani
| place_of_birth = Yenbo, Saudi Arabia | date_of_arrest = | place_of_arrest= Faisalabad, Pakistan | arresting_authority= Pakistani security officials | date_of_release = | place_of_release= | date_of_death = | place_of_death = | citizenship = | detained_at = Guantanamo | id_number = 93 | group = | alias = Yasser Talal Abdullah Yahya al Zahran | charge = No charge (extrajudicial detention) | penalty = | status = Death in custody | csrt_summary = | csrt_transcript= | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = }} Yasser Talal al Zahrani (September 22, 1984 – June 10, 2006) was a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 93. The Department of Defense (DoD) reported that he was born on September 22, 1984, in Yenbo, Saudi Arabia. Captured at the age of 16, al-Zahrani was accused of being "a front line fighter for the Taliban", despite later revisions that stated he had never advanced past the "second line". He was also accused of arranging weapons purchases.Worthington, Andy, The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison, Pluto Press. ISBN 0745326658 2007 In 2006, he wrote a letter to his father while in detention, that suggested that two prisoners seemed to be on the verge of death, and that he suspected foul play. Ten days later, he and the two prisoners were all reported dead, ostensibly having hanged themselves with their bedsheets. Murder in custody On June 10, 2006 the DoD reported that three Guantanamo detainees, two Saudis, and one Yemeni committed suicide.Three Guantanamo detainees die in suicides, Reuters, June 10, 2006 DoD spokesmen refrained from releasing the dead men's identities. On June 11, 2006 Saudi authorities released the names of the two Saudi men. Riydadh names Guantanamo suicide victims, wants bodies, Daily News & Analysis, June 11, 2006 One was identified as Al Zahrani. The other Saudi was identified as both Maniy bin Shaman al-Otaibi and Mani bin Shaman bin Turki al Habradi. Saudis allege torture in Guantanamo deaths, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 11, 2006 Neither of these names is on either of the two official lists of Guantanamo names the DoD has released. In February 2009 Staff Sergeant Joe Hickman, a U.S. Army Non Commissioned Officer stationed in Guantanamo Bay, and on duty 9 June 2006, Reported to the Justice Department that he did not think the deaths were suicides from what he and other soldiers had witnessed. On 18 January 2010, Scott Horton of Harper’s Magazine published a story denouncing al-Salami's, Al-Utaybi' and Al-Zahrani's deaths as accidental manslaughter during a torture session, and the official account as a cover-up. A report, Death in Camp Delta, was published by the Center for Policy & Research of Seton Hall University School of Law, under the supervision of its director, Professor Mark Denbeaux, denouncing numerous inconsistencies in the official accounts of these deaths. [http://law.shu.edu/about/news_events/releases.cfm?id=79165 Seton Hall Law releases latest GTMO report, Death in Camp Delta] [http://law.shu.edu/programscenters/publicintgovserv/policyresearch/upload/gtmo_death_camp_delta.pdf Death in Camp Delta] كفوا والله Combatant Status Review A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal. His memo accused him of the following: OARDEC, CSRT Summary of Evidence memo for AL ZAHRANI, Yasser Talal, United States Department of Defense -- page 11 -- September 22, 2004 *That he had arrived in Afghanistan in July 2001. *That he had trained at an Afghan training camp, near Konduz *That he had served on the second line, near Konduz, in the second week of September 2001. Allegations There is no record that Yasser Talal Al Zahrani chose to attend his hearing. The Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his hearing listed 26 factors favoring his continued detention. OARDEC, Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Zahrani, Yasser Talal, United States Department of Defense -- pages 24-26 -- September 8, 2005 The factors stated: *That he decided to travel to Afghanistan, instead of finishing high school, in August 2001. *That he trained at the Taliban's Konduz Center, and at al Qaida's al Farouq training camp. *That he was a financial courier. *That he had ties to various senior al Qaida and Taliban leaders. *That he served as security guard for three months *That he was captured, and sent to a prison in Mazari Sharif, and was injured during the prison riot at Qali Jangi in early November. Al Zahrani's age Bahraini detainee Abdulla Majid Al Naimi who was released on November 8, 2005 said he knew the three dead men, and commented on their deaths on June 25, 2006. Al Naimi said that Al Zahrani, was only 16 when he was captured. Ex-detainee disputes triple suicide report, Gulf Daily News, June 25, 2006 According to Al Naimi Al Zahrani should have been treated as a minor. :"He was 21 when he died, barely the legal age in most countries, and was merely 16 when he was picked up four and half years ago. His age shows that he is not even supposed to be taken to a police office; he should have been turned over to the underage juvenile authorities." Recent letter to his father The New York Times reported that Al Zahrani's father, Talal Abdallah al-Zahrani, recently received a letter from his son where he seemed to be in good spirits. Prisoners' Ruse Is Suspected at Guantánamo, New York Times, June 12, 2006 - mirror He said: "Nothing suggested that he would commit suicide, nothing," Al Zahrani disputed the US report that his son was non-compliant, saying his son had spent his time memorizing the Koran, and had been behaving. Prisoners' Ruse Is Suspected at Guantánamo, New York Times, June 12, 2006 - mirror A short life ends at Guantanamo, Hamilton Spectator, June 17, 2006 Al Zahrani said that the reason his son had been in the area of Afghanistan was that he had been working for Islamic charities. Letter of June 1 The English language Arab newspaper Asharq Alawsat reported that a letter a detainee had "...written ten days before the Pentagon announced three inmates had committed suicide on 10 June ..." appears to report that “...Two detainees are on the verge of death… perhaps they are dying or have died poisoned....” Saudi Arabia: Detainee Letter Exposes Alleged Guantanamo Horrors, Asharq Alawsat, August 12, 2006 - mirror Asharq Alawsat asserts that the two detainees on the verge of death were two of the men the USA claimed committed suicide. Asharq Alawsat reports that the letter was handed by the detainee, to his lawyer, who turned it over to Talal Al Zahrani's father's lawyer. Saudi Arabia: Detainee Letter Exposes Alleged Guantanamo Horrors, Asharq Alawsat, August 12, 2006 - mirror Asharq Alawsat reports that the detainee's name is being kept confidential, for his safety. Guantanamo attorneys must all agree that they must turn over all their notes and other documents before they leave Guantanamo. They have to report to a secure document center in Washington DC center in order to review their own notes. If a detainee authored a letter suggesting Talal Al-Zahrani and the two other men didn't really commit suicide, keeping his identity confidential could not have prevented the DoD from learning his identity. Post mortems Guantanamo camp authorities conducted post mortems on the three dead men, before their bodies were shipped home. Yasser’s Body Bears Marks of Beating, Arab News, June 19, 2006 Al Zahrani's father has called for a second post mortem by neutral, independent pathologists. Al Zahrani's father claimed that after his own examination of his son's corpse he was convinced he bore the marks of a beating. Yasser’s Body Bears Marks of Beating, Arab News, June 19, 2006 He sees this as confirming his skepticism that Al Zahrani did not commit suicide, but was murdered. Al Utaybi's family reported that his Saudi post-mortem had found that the DoD had retained Al Utaybi's brain, heart, liver and kidneys. Vital organs missing from repatriated body: family, Gulf News, June 21, 2006 Patrice Mangin, a widely published forensic pathologist, headed the team that volunteered to provide neutral, independent second autopsies for the three dead men. Gitmo detainee buried after body cross-examined, Yemen Times, June 25, 2005 After their examination of Ahmed's body, he said that it was routine for pathologists to remove some organs that decay rapidly. However, they had also found that the DoD had retained Ahmed's throat, which his team would need to examine before they offered a definitive conclusion as to how he died. Mangin asked the DoD to supply his team with Ahmed's throat, and with the bed sheets they claimed had been used to hang the three men. Weight reports The Center for the Study of Human Rights at the University of California (Davis) published the official record of Al Zahrani's weigh-in reports. NCIS Report On August 23, 2008 Josh White writing in the Washington Post reported the paper had received 3,000 pages of documents arising from the NCIS investigation through Freedom of Information Act requests. He reported that the NCIS report attributed the deaths to lapses on the part of the guards, and to a policy of leniency for the compliant captives. The report said the deaths were in Camp 1, which has now been closed, a camp for compliant captives, and that the men's bodies were masked by laundry they were allowed to hang up to dry. Outstanding habeas petition Yassar Talal al-Zahrani and fellow Saudi Salah Addin Ali Ahmed Al-Salami had habeas corpus petitions filed on their behalf, prior to their deaths. In December 2009 the Obama Presidency argued that the their petitions should be quashed, because their CSR Tribunals had determined that they were "enemy combatants". Talal al-Zahrani's father countered: "It doesn't really matter if this was an intentional death or an accidental death or suicide. The point is that the U.S. government bears responsibility." See also *Minors detained in the War on Terror *Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed al-Salami *Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi References External links * Al-Zahrani v. Rumsfeld * Murders at Guantánamo: The Cover-Up Continues Andy Worthington June 9, 2010 * Saudi Gitmo detainees’ death Saudi Gazette July 28, 2010 *The Guantánamo “Suicides”: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle Harper's Magazine January 18, 2010 *Three Corpses In Gitmo: The Very Worst Seems True The Atlantic 18 January, 2010 *Guantánamo 'suicides' were at secret 'black' site The Daily Telegraph January 18, 2010 *US magazine claims Guantánamo inmates were killed during questioning The Guardian January 18, 2010 * Study faults Guantanamo death probe * Obituary: Yasser Talal al-Zahrani, The Economist, 15 June 2006 * Guantánamo's Children: Military and Diplomatic Testimonies - humanrights.ucdavis.edu Category:Saudi Arabian extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:2006 deaths Category:1984 births Category:Guantanamo Bay detention deaths Category:Prisoners who died in United States military detention Category:Saudi Arabian people who died in prison custody Category:Juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp